Poems (Truesdell)/Stanzas

by Helen Truesdell

For works with similar titles, see Stanzas.

STANZAS.

"But ties around this heart were spun,
That could not, would not, be undone."

Oh! it is but a little while
 Since thou and I first met,
And yet thy image on my soul
 Is deeply, firmly set.

'Tis but a little while since thou
 Wert all unknown to me,
And now thou art the guiding star
 That rules my destiny.

I knew it—felt it—ere I stood
 One moment by thy side;
And with rebuking sternness sought
 The feeling back to chide.

But vain—it gathered o'er my heart,
 Like waters o'er the deep;
A feeling in my soul was roused
 That would not, could not, sleep.

I stood amid the young, the proud,
 The gallant and the gay,
With not a thought for those around,
 And not a word to say.

I looked in those dark eyes of thine,
 With strange and timid fear,
And turned away with pallid cheek
 And scarcely hidden tear;

For, though thy voice was ever kind
 As friendship's voice could be,
Others had shared those gentle tones,
 Breathed not alone for me.

I think of thee at early morn,
 And dream of thee at night,—
A day-star set within my soul,
 For ever pure and bright.

All other hopes may fade away,—
 Life's earliest dreams depart,—
But thou are graved on memory,
 Enshrined within my heart.